AAHPM reached out to the 2024 Visionaries to gain insight into what motivated them to pursue leadership positions and what they find more fulfilling in their experiences. Dale Lupu, MPH PhD has been recognized as one of the exceptional individuals chosen as a 2024 AAHPM Visionaries in Hospice and Palliative Care.
Who has most influenced your work and how have they shaped your contributions?
My mother, Marian Koffman Lupu, a national leader in aging services, showed me how to balance passion for a career with devotion to family in a time when that balance was elusive for most women. She taught me essential skills of community leadership and always modeled that aging was something to be proud of. My father, Charles Lupu, taught me – by never calling any question silly – that asking good questions could be a powerful tool. Dorothy Moga, the visionary leader of one of the 26 hospices in the first Medicare Hospice Demonstration, has generously mentored me for more than 40 years, and it is her leadership that I aspire to emulate. Susan Block gave me entry to the world of medical education and showed me how clear communication principles and intentional educational techniques could be transformative – even for already skillful palliative care clinicians. Colleagues too numerous names – among them Charles von Gunten, Russ Portenoy, Charlie Sasser, Skip Radwany – partnered with me and entrusted me with leading the effort to establish Hospice & Palliative Medicine as a recognized medical specialty. Colleagues from a newer generation – including Holly Yang, Vicki Jackson, Nathan Goldstein, Liz Anderson – inspired me with new ideas and fresh energy and commitment to caring for people with serious illness. In the past decade, Woody Moss, Glenda Herbert, Nancy Armistead, Liz Anderson, & Christy Corbett have helped me understand the world of people with serious kidney disease and the people and systems who care for them.
What is the significance to you of being recognized as a “Visionary” in Hospice and Palliative Medicine?
I am honored that my peers feel I have helped push the envelope and made waves.
What is your aspiration for the evolution of hospice and Palliative Medicine?
I believe that “the end of the story matters.” I hope our field retains this as a core animating conviction. As the principles of palliative care travel “upstream,” they risk becoming merely good internal medicine, good geriatrics, good, coordinated care, if they are completely divorced from an awareness of mortality. While we may soften our language so as not to frighten people grappling with the gravity of illness, we must not ourselves lose sight of the important role that acknowledging death plays in providing care. We must retain the skill of helping families talk about “the elephant in the room.” We must advocate for health systems that provide comfort even when cure is unlikely. I hope our field maintains its roots in the vision that the end of life is a potent time, even a time of growth, in a person’s life. I hope our field continues to evolve and innovate the structures, systems, and skills to help people live fully and die gracefully.
Learn more about the AAHPM 2024 Visionaries in Hospice and Palliative Care and view a full list of all current and past Visionaries.